Leaner Living Thanksgiving 2.0

It seems that every other fitness / nutrition / health website out there gives tips of how to not add unwanted inches during Thanksgiving. We figured we might as well give our two cents by showing what we eat during Turkey Day among other tidbits. There is also an argument of whether to make and eat healthy dessert substitutes or to just splurge and eat some gluttonous pie. We will give both sides to the argument and you can decide for yourself!

Thanksgiving – The DAY

For many, Thanksgiving is a time for family to get together and be thankful for everything in life. Whether it is a joyous time, or a stressful time (I’ve had both), either situation can be cause for an over ingestion of high calorie foods. I hate to be the food police on the holidays so I won’t say you should avoid pie at all costs. I usually break it down into a few options for those wanting to lose weight (or at least not gain weight) during Thanksgiving.

1. If you want a real piece of pumpkin pie (or whatever your favorite pie is), then make sure you do a few things. First, you will want to fill up on as much turkey and green beans as possible. Skip the stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and marshmallow-coated sweet potatoes. This will make is possible for you to only have 1 slice of that highly coveted mouth watering pie. Although not completely optimal, this is a simple and very effective!

2. If you would rather have more of the dinner plate fixings (stuffing, potatoes, etc.) and don’t care about the pie afterward, then still try to fill up on the turkey and green beans (or whatever vegetables you are serving… not potatoes). Leave a small space on your plate for the fixings of your choice. Again this is not optimal but it works.

3. If you want your pie and eat it too, you can make Leaner Living Thanksgiving fixings and dessert!  – See Below

Incredible Cranberry Sauce – We decided regular cranberry sauce was not only fattening, but it was also kind of boring! (Sorry to those who like regular cranberry sauce). To make this, boil 1 cup of water and a 12 oz package of cranberries and allow to boil on low hear for 15 minutes. Sweeten to taste with your choice of sugar replacement (splenda, stevia, xylitol, etc). Add 1 cup of blueberries and 1/4 cup of pecans or walnuts right after removing from heat.

Pumpkin Pie Bites – We are obviously obsessed with pumpkin and Thanksgiving is no exception. We decided to make these as a replacement for pie.

Stuffing tips – For stuffing, concentrate on using lean sausage/meats and vegetables instead of bread. If you use bread in your stuffing (like most people), make sure you get the double fiber bread from the grocery store.